The San Jose Sharks will be without Henry Thrun on Saturday when they play the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre looking to end a seven-game losing streak.
Thrun left Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens early in the third period with an upper body injury. Thrun also missed the final five minutes of the first period of the game, which San Jose lost 4-3 in overtime.
Thrun, who had been on the Sharks’ top defense pair since Cody Ceci was traded to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 1, is considered day-to-day, coach Ryan Warsofsky said Saturday. Warsofsky added that it was too soon to say whether the team would need to recall another defenseman from the Barracuda of the AHL. The Sharks are carrying six defensemen with their next game on Monday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
Jack Thompson will replace Thrun in the Sharks’ lineup and, per San Jose Hockey Now, will play with Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the third defense pair.
Timothy Liljegren will take Thrun’s spot on the Sharks’ top pair alongside Jake Walman, and Shakir Mukhamadullin, who was impressive during Thursday’s loss in Montreal, will be paired with Mario Ferraro.
Vitek Vanecek will start for the Sharks, who are 0-1-2 on this seven-game road trip, with all three losses by one goal. Their last win came on Jan. 27 at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. San Jose is 0-4-3 since, with five losses by one goal.
Vanecek is coming off a 33-save performance against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, and enters Saturday with a 3-9-3 record and an .882 save percentage in 17 games this season. Vanecek’s last win came on Nov. 29 when the Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 8-5, as he missed six weeks from Dec.18 to Feb.6 with a fractured cheekbone.
The Sharks are facing a Senators team that has lost five straight games to fall out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot but will get back three significant forwards in Brady Tkachuk, Shane Pinto and Josh Norris. Those three players have combined for 97 points in 149 games this season.
Tkachuk missed the last two Senators games after starring for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off last month. Pinto (upper body) has missed Ottawa’s last four games, and Norris, the Sharks’ first-round draft pick in 2017, has missed the last six games with an upper-body ailment.
Tkachuk will play left wing on the Senators’ top line with Tim Stützle and Claude Giroux, Norris will center the second line and Pinto will center the third line.